If you want to see UConn men’s basketball play in its conference tournament this March, you’re going to need a plane ticket and some blue suede shoes.

Instead of making the trip to Madison Square Garden, you’ll be making a pilgrimage to…Memphis, Tennessee.

The American Athletic Conference announced today that Memphis’ Fed Ex Forum will be the host site for its men’s basketball tournament, which figures to pit UConn against the likes of SMU, Central Florida, Temple, Houston, and Memphis.

Just doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

The conference press release extolls the building as “one of the nation’s premiere basketball venues,” and it may be. FedExForum is the home to the University of Memphis men’s basketball team and the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies. It will also host the 2014 South Regional in the NCAA Tournament.

But it ain’t Madison Square Garden, and it’s not anywhere near Storrs. (UConn fans will have to travel 18 hours by car to get there).

Still, in the new world of college athletics, this is the hand UConn has been dealt. They’ll have to win the conference title on Memphis’ floor,

You’ll still be able to watch the Huskies go for the conference title.

The conference tournament will feature 10 teams and is set for March 12-15. Each game of the 10-team tournament will be televised on the ESPN networks. The championship game on Saturday, March 15, will be televised on ESPN.

For 2013-14, the American Athletic Conference will include the University of Central Florida, University of Cincinnati, University of Connecticut, University of Houston, University of Louisville, University of Memphis, Rutgers University, University of South Florida, Southern Methodist University, and Temple University.

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